Magazine Issue 11 Summer 2000
BABYLONIAN TIMES

Commerce before ethics
This April Britain's leading employers' lobby criticised the government's call for UK companies to pull out of Burma to increase pressure on Rangoon's military regime. "In the absence of clear legal sanctions it should be left up to companies to make commercial decisions about where they do business," said the Confederation of British Industry.
Financial Times 12/4/00

Bank closures continue?
Barclays has warned that despite shutting a tenth of its branch network, further closures are possible. Barclays closed 171 UK branches in April, sparking protests from disaffected customers, politicians and rural pressure groups.

The UK's top banks have been reducing the size of their branch networks for the past decade and are facing pressure to make further reductions as a result of new technologies. National Westminster Bank has cut the size of its network from 3,086 in 1988 to about 1,712, while Midland, now HSBC, has seen its network decline from 2,090 in 1988 to about 1,622. Financial Times 11/4/00

E-commerce fears
Mahathir Mohammed, the Malaysian prime minister, has appointed electronic commerce as the South’s latest aggressor. He describes e-commerce as part of a globalisation process led by Northern countries that will ultimately undermine business in poorer countries: "Modern trade through dotcom companies will make our local companies dysfunctional as dotcoms will sell direct to our buyers". Financial Times 21/4/00

Oil giant’s acquisition cleared
BP Amoco's $27.6bn acquisition of Atlantic Richfield has been cleared after a protracted dispute threatened to block any progress. Antitrust commissioners in the US approved the deal after BP Amoco agreed to sell Arco's oil production assets on Alaska's North Slope to Phillips Petroleum for $7bn.

The decision clears the way for the creation of a combined group with a market capitalisation of some $200bn. BP Amoco is the third largest oil company in the world, following Exxon Mobil and the Royal Dutch/Shell Group.

The complex negotiations over the BP Amoco deal with Arco represent the second sweeping intervention by antitrust officials to reshape competition in the oil industry, the first being over Exxon's merger with Mobil last November. Financial Times 13/4/00
CNN in military takeover?
The US news channel CNN has admitted that it allowed ‘psychological operations’ officers from the US Military to work as interns during the war in Kosova. No wonder, then, that CNN’s reporting of the war was largely a bunch of old generals advocating bombing the country. The company denies being influenced by the military presence. As one commentator wrote, "Maybe CNN was the target of a psy-ops penetration and is still too naive to figure out what was going on". The Guardian 12/4/00
Microsoft battles on
In the latest stage of its antitrust battles, Microsoft is proposing mild curbs on its business practices, involving no structural changes, as a counter to the government's call to break up the company. While Microsoft maintains it has done nothing wrong, it is required to offer its own "remedies" as part of the legal process.

The software group has said a break-up would be a "radical" measure that would have dire consequences for computer users, the US high-tech industry and the US economy. The two year-long trial concluded in April with the judge ruling that Microsoft had repeatedly broken antitrust laws by attempting to extend its monopoly and abusing its market power across the computer industry. He proposed that the company split Microsoft between its Windows operating system business and an applications company.

US Justice Department lawyers are expected to argue that Microsoft's own proposals do not go far enough and would not prevent future antitrust violations. Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and co-founder, believes the company can win the case in the Court of Appeals: "We remain confident that the courts will reaffirm that every company, no matter how successful, should be encouraged to build better." Financial Times 7/5/00
Blood for oil
Oil giant BP Amoco allegedly backed an ‘arms for oil’ coup in 1993, in Azerbaijan, where a former KGB chief, Haydar Aliyev, was installed as president. Azerbaijan has huge resources of oil beneath the Caspian Sea. BP allegedly supplied the incoming government with military equipment and money to help out with the coup. Shortly afterwards BP was handed the lead role in the oil consortium which now dominates the region.
The company denies any involvement in this, and characterizes it as a "gross slur" - according to a BP official: "It would be alien to BP’s culture".
Sunday Times 26/3/00 & 9/4/00
NBC***
The US magazine ‘2600: The Hacker Quarterly’ is under threat of a lawsuit for registering the internet domain name ‘fucknbc.com’. NBC (National Broadcasting Company, Inc), the US TV broadcasting network, is not impressed, claiming that: "The use of NBC's name in this domain name constitutes trademark infringment". 2600’s response: "Apparently the corporate media feels it not only owns the internet, but that it can control opinions and expression as well." 2600: The Hacker Quarterly
World Bank’s internet plans
Who do you trust to define global knowledge about development? The World Bank has plans to create the world’s premier internet portal about "sustainable development and poverty reduction" together with ‘civil society partners’, namely Microsoft. The project is predicted to be worth $60 million on completion. Was anything other than a megasite to be expected from an organization that defines ‘development’ just as more, more, more?
Bretton Woods Project, March Alert
Robots replace workers for car manufacturers
Car manufacturers were the key factor in a 20% surge to record levels in worldwide orders for industrial robots last year. Figures compiled by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the International Federation of Robotics show a 60% leap in robot orders by US companies; 12% by European companies; and a 5% increase in Asian demand.

The increase in the use of robots has been ascribed to their falling cost relative to wages, and to changes in production methods. Financial Times 10/2/00
A question of priorities
This March the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) presented a new mode of cooperation with the police to fight company fraud. Sir Clive Thompson, CBI president, claims that this is one of the main problems for many industries, with Jack Straw believing it to cause "serious financial ruin, bringing with it loss of livelihood". This may be so, but what about all the fraud against workers, consumers, ecology and even the government itself? CBI press release 24/3/00
Shell and security statistics
Royal Dutch/Shell has disclosed that in 1999 there were 349 incidents against contractors and staff of its subsidiary in Nigeria. Residents of the Niger Delta claim that oil developments are devastating their lives.

Shell reported 102 incidents of hostage taking or kidnapping, and 20 armed robberies. Incidents deemed to be "sabotage and community disruption" caused lost production of 200,000 barrels a day last year.

The company also reported a sharp rise in the use of armed government security forces to protect its staff and facilities. These are now used in 18 countries, compared with 15 in 1998. Shell declined to identify the countries involved. Financial Times 2/5/00
Racist Coca-Cola?
The day after the World Bank and IMF meeting in Washington DC, another took place outside of Congress. A caravan of former and current employees of Coca-Cola, in the ‘Ride for Corporate Justice’, called out for a "fundamental, structural change" in the company. "We want to enlighten the world that discrimination exists at the Coca-Cola company,'' said a former manager.

A racial discrimination lawsuit was filed last year accusing Coca-Cola of repeatedly denying promotions to black employees and paying them less than white counterparts. Coke has denied all allegations and is in talks with the plaintiffs. Associated Press 18/4/00
We back biotech!
Novartis’ website offers free promotion material, such as bumper stickers, license plates, and screen savers – all stating Novartis’ new slogan, ‘We back biotech!’ To download yours, visit www.webackbiotech.com.
Trojan tomatoes
"Those of us in industry can take comfort of a sort from such obvious ‘Luddism’ [ie criticizing biotech]. After all, we’re the technical experts. We know we’re right. The ‘antis’ obviously don’t really understand the science, and are just as obviously pushing a hidden agenda – probably to destroy capitalism."

Robert Shapiro, CEO of Monsanto, ‘The welcome tension of technology: The need for dialogue about agricultural biotechnology’. Center for the Study of American Business, Feb 2000
Oil and gas companies in Iran
Nine leading oil and gas companies (Agip, BHP Petroleum, BP Amoco, Shell, TotalFina Elf, Gaz de France, BG, Lasmo, and Petronas) have agreed to carry out a joint, long-term gas utilisation study for Iran, which has the world's second largest reserves of gas but exports none.

Part of the study is expected to focus on plans to build a gas pipeline from Iran's offshore gas fields through Pakistan to India. Pakistan's military government last month agreed in principle to allow the onshore pipeline to pass through its territory to India, with which it has fought three wars since 1947.

The proposed pipeline, dubbed the ‘peace pipeline’, would stretch over 2,500km from Asaluyeh on Iran's Gulf coast. Financial Times 21/4/00
Strike-free agreement in Belfast
The Belfast shipyard Harland and Wolff has announced a strike-free agreement with its trade unions, and hopes to win a crucial £300m order to build four ferries for a Norwegian company.

The shipyard, owned by Fred Olsen Energy of Norway, also agreed terms with the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, which represent the bulk of the 1,800-strong workforce, to fix the current basic salary for a skilled worker at £310 a week until January 2003. The issue of a strike-free agreement is claimed to be a reason for the company losing out in the contest to build Cunard's successor to the QE2.

In the meantime, with no new orders, the company has put the workforce on 90-day notice of redundancy, due to expire on June 7. Financial Times 9/5/00
Corporate social responsibility and competition clash?
Tony Blair has made the gesture of creating a minister for corporate social responsibility. The post was given to Kim Howells, a junior minister at the Department of Trade and Industry, who is already responsible for competition and consumer affairs. His remit is to seek to "promote the business case for corporate social responsibility and to develop stronger links between different government departments' work in this area".

The British Chamber of Commerce said: "We would be concerned at anything that imposes further burdens that divert companies from their key task of wealth creation and job creation." Financial Times 23/4/00